I'm declaring my emergency fund covered.
I am 94% of the way to meeting my bathroom budget, and 93% of the way to buying a new refrigerator. Halfway to Rothville.

Bought some Mason jars for preserving our expected bumper crop of tomatoes... I bought five plants, but three have surfaced as surviving seeds from last year, making eight in total! Boy it's a good thing I love tomatoes! I also want to try pickling ginger, beets, radishes and cabbage, to get the nutrients and enzymes from lacto-fermentation.

I started a book by John Cummuta. His Web site hawks a program for $79.90 but I can save you nearly $80 by just sharing this with you: arrange for 10% of your take-home pay to go to your debt payments. That 10% is the "amazing Accelerator Margin." Where to find that 10%? Ideas abound on this board, other personal finance forums and Websites. Such a favour I do for you. Now you can do something for me:

Find me a 2001-2007 era vehicle that gets 37 mpg highway/29 mpg in-city and can carry at least three people (no Fits, SmartCars, motorcycles nor scooters) and have storage space in the back for Costco runs.

Show me how I can knock 10% off my heating bill this year on $100/month: duct sealing? insulating the water heater? Do not suggest windows, insulation in the attic, programmable thermostat, nor leaving the house unheated from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM in the winter when someone works in the home. These have been considered and have either been implemented or discarded as physical cruelty. The government's home energy savings Website tells me I can save maybe $71 extra per year, if I ditch my old refrigerator.

Carbon footprint of house: 6.2
Carbon footprint of car: 6.8

These are always disjointed.

I came with my net worth statement, our spending for the month, and some savings goals.

Home value dropped by 2% since last month.
Fortunately, our equity hit a peak.

Thanks to my weakness of eating out, and for including Nov/Dec utility bills as spending for one month, and the state self-employment taxes, and the purchase of the gold coin (really just a currency trade), we came just under 25% of saving our net income.

I challenged myself to save more money this next month, and that should be a cinch, considering there are fewer days and I won't be paying state self-employment taxes.

We are going to aim for saving 25% of our net income for: a car, the Roth IRAs, leaving $3200 for... uh, college? gold? emergency fund? home improvement?

Hubby would like to be the one this year to maximize his Roth IRA contributions, as he doesn't care for his new company's 401(k) plan. If I should continue on with my contract agency, or net a full-time permanent job, I'd be okay with putting 13-17% pretax contribution into a defined contribution plan. My company's plan improved greatly six weeks into my participation.

I am suspecting now that not all middle-income American parents of children under 10 are able to put 16% of their money in retirement, pay for childcare, buy cars in cash, set up and fund their kids' college funds, prepay their mortgages, and maximize their Roth IRA contributions. I tell myself this so I can be okay with my 25% savings. However, are all of those strategies expected to be doable? I'd be sure to take notes if someone with 2/3rds of our income in our neighbourhood and our family situation can tell me how they do it, without "oh my daddy gave me a house. My parents weren't poor uneducated renters for most of their lives. My grandfather wrote the screenplay to 'Casablanca' so I have this big trust fund" exceptions.

So $21,000 is my minimum goal for savings for the year: $8000 maximum for hubby's Roth IRA contributions for this year and last; $8000 for a car; $5000 for my own Roth IRA contribution. This does not help me with the savings, home improvement, garden/landscaping, and emergency fund.

Again: how do families with children do this?

If I'm feeling flush, I may look into paying for disability insurance. I read a neat post on an investments community about the hidden, major investments we can make in our health and protection of our assets.

So I'm managing twenty-two accounts.
My goal for November is to increase our net worth by $1957.43 USD (not including gold and house). This is easiest done by first reducing liabilities by that much, then increasing returns on accounts (less money in low interest accounts, more money in high interest accounts), and lastly making the most of employer matching.

We do not have dependent care savings accounts to fund anymore, so that should free up some taxable money. Husband vows to put 15% in his 401(k). I suggested:

$4.00/week allowance for my six-year-old
(heartily approved by six-year-old)

I will suggest, in descending order of importance:
$225/paycheque-or-bonus for HELOC payment.
$150/week Roth IRA 2007 contribution for me
$375/week CDs ($1500 per month) for emergency fund
$125/week Roth IRA 2007 contribution for spouse
$120/week contribution to my personal savings account (for funding taxable accounts)
-------------------
Anticipated bonuses: $3300 this month.
-------------------

We'll give that a whirl and see what November 30 has to give us. I expect less income this coming month on account of half-days and one full day off school this coming month. I'll bring my child with me on banking activities as he seems to be on a monetary kick.

My son opened his School Savings account with $2.87. He enjoyed making his first deposit to that account.

I blew $8.00 on gasoline today. At least it was in cash, and at least it was at $2.98/gallon. And it will last me probably 150 miles. Paying $0.053/mile isn't terrible, is it? It'll last me probably five weeks too, if the weather returns to its usual dark, wet and cold.

Our insulation will be more expensive than originally estimated, on account of an ancient ceiling fan in the kitchen. Sigh.

Thanks to inflation I am not interested in paying off my mortgage early.

Putting off "finance chat" leads to "finance showdown." Both my spouse and I have inactive retirement and trading accounts, and we can't be comfortably passive about our money anymore. We simply have too many goals and not enough money to go around. I am gathering account statements and making a monthly tally tonight, so if I die from vehicular homicide, my surviving spouse will have half a clue where money is.

I'm sorry this is a dull post. But it is not convoluted and it is not panicky. That's the best I can do right now.

It's not just the credit card bills for the vacation.

It's the auto insurance: $330
the motorcycle insurance: $270
the motorcycle maintenance: $677
title transfer fees: $19.50
and now, the opthmalogist's exams and orders for new frames: $935
and the kindergarten tuition: $1520
And of course the mortgage: $1570 (I paid some extra -- I'm not yet at the point where the principal part of the payment exceeds the interest, so I pay extra for the principal until it can exceed the interest without my help.)

Flush flush flush flush.

However, what we get for all that money flushing:
* reliable and safe transportation for us all, and for one-at-a-time
* frames with prescriptions to meet our changing vision, before the husband's excellent benefits go away
* access to half-decent and full-time education for about 19% of daycare/preschool, and an opportunity to meet other parents of kindergartners; entry into what I hope to be a familial community
* a place to live for 30 more days. It may be a great time to rent, but for those with houses paid for or who know that a SFH would rent for more than what they pay in PITI and utilities, it ain't such a hardship to have a mortgage.

$2972.89.
A thousand less than I thought it'd be.

Variable rate almost at 12%. Credit limit smaller than I remembered it being, but am still below 30% usage of credit limit, so FIA can't thrust universal default upon me. OH THE HUMANITY. I know you BAC stockholders are crying in your Coors Light. I see that the percentage charged on balance transfers went from 3 to 4. OH HOW THE CREDIT CARD INDUSTRY MUST BE HURTING. CAN YOU WEEP FOR THEM?

Mailed my payment in full today.

20% joint savings
15% Roth IRA 2007 contribution
15% to go to my credit union account

60% to stew in chequing until the monthly "deep cleanse" (mortgage and childcare: half the budget) on the 31st.

1. Gold coin purchased.
2. $500 moved to personal chequing/checking account.
3. Received e-mail from TD Ameritrade telling me that savings statements were not okay to use in setting up a Move Money application. This was confusing to me because the Move Money application sent to me said it was fine to do so. I tend to trust documents reviewed by Legal department over Customer Service Representatives responding over e-mail, don't you?
4. E-mailed Samantha Roady, Chief Marketing Officer of GainCapital.com to let her know 'alot' is not a word and to please ensure it doesn't appear in banner ads. I have not yet seen an English language dictionary that has 'alot' as an acceptable variant of 'a lot,' and I am CONFUSED as to how people come to accept it. Are dictionaries the work of the devil? Did some lousy typesetter mess up a primer that was mandatory curriculum reading for 100 million elementary school children decades ago?
5. Still no work done on the windows, nor landscaping.
6. Made $150 payment, not $125 as previously reported, extra to the mortgage. Now my total mortgage interest will be below the magic six-digit figure.
7. Captured to my iPod several applications for Direct Purchase Plans and Direct Reinvestment Plans for companies.
8. Went to the library, recorded from the Value Line (manually so as not to violate copyright laws) the safest and most timely and highest-yielding recession-safe companies. Then I did #7.
9. Received assessment from the County.

1. I hadn't yet been out in the sun to pull up weeds. I chose to pull up weeds as a tiny action indicating that yes, I do want to improve my environment and yes, I am deficient in Vitamin D and want that sunlight!

2. I went through a purge -- shredding financial statements we don't need, and found a budget book. I tallied first our income, feeling pretty proud of myself for earning the wage that I do, and then tallied our expenditures:
* a friend's morning wedding in Vancouver, so an overnight stay is in the cards;
* the IRS payment of $860.72 -- bah on me for getting it in two weeks earlier;
* the non-refundable deposit for putting the munchkin in kindergarten: $170/month full-time, and this is a BARGAIN compared to $50,000 of past childcare expenditures;
* my birthday, and I will be one very spoiled princess/goddess with my bitchen waterproof warm imported motorcycle jacket;
* the last hiccup of $750 for my 2006 Roth IRA contribution;
* my kid's social communication playgroup: $40/session, and I haven't kept up payments since the facilitator/therapist moved operations to where there's no billing receptionist;
* thought I might try paying the mortgage every four weeks, so inked in a double payment.

3. I'd been getting to sleep well enough without melatonin and 5-HTP the last few days, but my serotonin reserves got depleted.

This, along with other expenditures like insurance, heat, utilities, food, came to $7800 for the month. This is well above what we bring in. Sure, I put in $450 as a savings category for the vacation, and yes, we have savings, and the tax/mortgage/childcare payments can go through our chequing account without overdraft, but what about the 2007 Roth IRA or the windows or the gardening/landscaping I wanted done for my survival/victory garden? Poof. So no double payment of the mortgage, obviously.

Thanks, Lux Living Frugalis, for the Daniel Quinn recommendations and verbal bouquet. I do have a lot of fallow time at work, so I'll get the Ishmael books after I finish Road to Serfdom.

And thanks for the "there theres" and understanding that I really just want to participate in a spectrum of advice and experiences, and present some bulletins that people may find useful for re-engineering their spending. Like Club Orlov's 'Closing the Collapse Gap' slideshow. Some may think this may never happen; some may be unsettled; others may be thinking 'oh good, I'm not the only one out there thinking this way, maybe I can cut down on the Wellbutrin or Fluoxetine.' The important thing is that we're putting our brains to use taking in and analyzing data and choosing between action and inaction.

And this is mostly for me, but if you find use in it, then it's for you too:
"May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith EXCEPT BANKS -- DO NOT TRUST THEM OVER YOUR SPOUSE. THE BANKS SHOULD NOT BE YOUR OVERLORDS!.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you."

I was waiting for this...

Fortunately it still looks like we'll both be employed for the next year, and kindergarten is promising to be lighter on our pocketbooks than $910/month preschool. Another goal could be to save six months' mortgage expenses somewhere outside retirement.

Does anyone know what happens to privately owned mortgage lenders, like regional thrifts, who aren't dabbling in the subprime market when this happens? They'll probably have to tighten their lending standards too, but what else? They're not publicly traded.

I wonder if CDs, gold, and treasury notes and bonds are the way to accumulate cash in taxable accounts so as to pay off mortgage early. I know, "it's risky and bad planning to have too much of your net wo... Right now 49% of our net worth is tied into our principal residence. I feel bound: banks have taught me not to think I can profit i them, stocks are manipulated, bonds might be a sucker's game if they're issued by a debtor nation... what else is there to invest in?

I wonder how else I and my husband could protect our family from this. I wonder why people and companies never ever pay attention to economic cycles and history, or know what follows a boom. Have so few people ever rode a rollercoaster? Ever wonder if bank execs binge and purge or do yo-yo dieting the way they yo-yo mortgage lending requirements?

Thanks all for your responses and commiseration to "when are you having another kid?"

I went on a spree of sorts with the family: we bought a battery tender to work with both our scooters, 20% off. We enjoy supporting our local motorcycle accessories shop: they make shopping great. Received free faceshield cleaner.
Bought at JC Penney a twin comforter (down alternative) for the boy, as we had only hand-me-down blankets, which made me think that if any visitors saw his room, they'd be calling Child Protective Services ("I'm serious! the blankets don't match! they're older than he is!") and a 330-thread replacement set of sheets for our bed, both for slightly less than 50% the regular price.

The frugal thing to do would be to NOT buy the Battery Tender, but juicing up the bike with the car isn't always a viable option, and doesn't restore the battery beyond 80% power. That's cheaper than buying a battery every twelve-eighteen months though. I dislike the backfire of the idea that scooters will save money: I've spent money on boots, helmet, super-reflective vest, helmet halo, battery tender, maintenance. No modifications for aesthetics or warmth. At least I vanquished the temptation to buy an extra set of cold weather gloves ("if you ride for two hours in temps below 50F your hands will get cold no matter what!" said my expert friend).

I learned through my scooter battery experience that although every rider asserts 'it's always the battery' everyone has a different idea of solving the problem. Buy another battery. Check the fluid. Take it in for inspection. Jump it with a car and ride around for two hours. Buy a battery charger. I paid most attention to the Sound Rider! guy who said that scoots like mine don't like the cold, and yes it was 32F the day my scooter said 'hell no! You can't make me go!', so maybe the cold weather got it down.

Then we ate at a neighbourhood Italian comfort food restaurant with organic food. No wine. Kid was bratty-tired, but thankfully the restaurant had a corner of toys and amusements for the children six and under, so despite our limited patience with our squirmy whiny bundle of joy (yes we made absolutely sure he wasn't bothering the other patrons--we may be parents but we are conscientious and not oblivious), we'll be coming back.

Tomorrow I hope to earn six hours' overtime.

Eventually we'll sift through our linens and donate the excess: maybe three lucky homeless people out of over two thousand will have an extra layer to protect them from the elements.

My spouse did not receive WARN (Worker Asset Reduction Notice), either in writing or by telephone, so he's still employed. I guess that's good: he has excellent benefits and can continue to work at home at a schedule that accommodates our household. Too bad he has work pressures. His company's execs are creaming themselves talking of outsourcing and reduction in force. Except outsourcing of executives. Interesting how that works.

Today I start writing down everything I spend money on.

It feels good to have a month's planned expenditures in a chequing account.

Yesterday I told the lads that we are scrimping $500/month to be set aside for the purchase of a recent vintage automobile. Our car is now exactly at 130,000 mi. We've owned it for nine years. Contrary to my born-again "green" attitude, I am considering, among the Toyota Prius, a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Passat 3.6, or a BMW 325i, as we have several low-fuel or no-fuel commuting options: carpool, flexcar, motorscooter, bus, bicycle. I want an automobile only because we do get foul weather on occasion--it snowed here today--and I have a small child who justly does not feel safe riding behind us on our scooters, and there are times I tote more than just drycleaning/librarybooks/3bagsgroceries. I'm not going to keel over and die in a messy pool of guilt because my car gets only 24 mpg when our other self-commandeered options get 80 mpg and 55 mpg and more use out of them -- we don't drive our kid to many places other than friends' birthday parties, appointments outside the city, or roadtrips.

My husband was asked why we don't have two cars. Since 2001 we've been bouncing around from having one to two cars in our driveway: I don't really buy cars, I just 'rent them' or 'maintain them' while their owners are overseas. They're expensive to insure, feed, park and maintain.Driving is actually more pleasant now, because I don't have that defensive "everybody hates me and my fuel efficient freedom, I must protect myself from jealous killers who pretend to be oblivious with their Blackberries and cellphones" mantra behind the wheel that I do on my scooter.

Today also in earnest I start planning for what could be the first and last major roadtrip we take as a family this summer: a cruise down as much of Highway 101 as we can. I'm budgeting $3400 for twelve days. It'll be like Steinbeck's 'Travels with Charley.'

I will buy the Consumer Reports April Auto issue, or look at it in the library.

I am $900 away from maximizing my Roth IRA contribution for 2006.

I ordered seed catalogues from Landreth, Seeds of Change, Territorial Seeds, Abundant Life, and Heirloom Seeds. I saw an article on MotherEarthLiving.com about the ten best beginner crops and really just want to stick to herbs and a handful of vegetables: green leafy sturdy varieties; tomatoes if I can.

My wackiness for this week is 'how to apportion out the overage to crawl toward my individual savings goals.' Better than last week's quarterly neurosis of 'I am going to live my life in poverty'. My husband said I should be happy that I fared better than my parents but gee, isn't faring better than dysfunctional high school dropouts who spent most of their lives in the poverty line a low expectation?

I saw that the energy credit for windows tops out at $200. Not quite the heftiness of the solar energy credit. I know I've posted before about the question of energy savings using solar energy. Now, I am concentrating on windows. We'd been wanting to finish up our windows replacement from two years ago.

I must remember that if I sink because of deflating home equity and mutual fund NAVs, so too do my friends and associates.

I have PostPoverty Stress Disorder.

I had a "math crash" figuring out the bill at a restaurant, which made my friend snappish and belligerent (I also didn't join her in a cocktail either). Sometimes all it takes is to ride in someone's BMW, or hear about a vacation, or how my kid's peers are being sent to private schools, and I fall prey to the sin of covetousness. 'Cause my friends have no kids, and parents who actually owned property and had assets. They can relax.

For instance: For the past nine years I have wanted to go to Hawaii for winter. It burned to hear other mothers talk about their upcoming Hawaii vacations.

I talked to my spouse and he told me for many years he had to stay home while his friends and classmates flew to Disney World or Disneyland. Our plus-kid trips are typically to see my spouse's parents, or they are drives to Vancouver BC or Portland OR. We reminisced about the trips we took nine years ago when our rent was $600, our salaries were half of what they are now. Our net worth was $9000 when we took those trips, tops. Mortgage, sans real estate tax and insurance, is twice the rent. Our net worth, $440,000. The lads went to visit my in-laws, who do not live in Palm Springs or Waikiki. They're temporarily infirm, so their getting over here is not feasible at this time.

The sad thing: our kid actually has it pretty swell compared to what we had at his age. Both our sets of parents were still renting. He hasn't moved three times like my family did. He has a college fund. We don't eat marshmallow fluff for three days because that's the only thing in the house. A BIG trip for us was to a city 150 miles away. He even has a set of parents who like each other and don't have a dysfunctional relationship. Dammit, why isn't this enough for me?

Instead of hearing from my aunts how their daughters are getting ahead "upgrading their spouses" and relying on the spouses to bring home the big bucks and making me feel like a dumbass for earning my own money and not relying as much on my husband, instead of reading "maybe cut your cell phone or get rid of your cats" for budget recommendations I just want to read that yes, the first five years of parenting a child are costlier than normal, there's light at the end of the tunnel. And to be reminded that our mortgage term is shorter than the terms of other families, so we're building equity faster. And it'd help if someone would virtually pat my hand and say "oh sure, putting in 10% with an employer match in your 401(k) and budgeting to fit in Roth IRA maximum contributions will pay off in the long run, more than sweet memories of sipping cocktails on a beachfront deck watching the sun set over the Pacific when you're in your 30s, and come to think of it, going from $9K to $440K in nine years isn't the crappiest thing ever."

January is the hardest month financially for my family. Water/sewer bill, electricity bill (a third of the water/sewer), highest natural gas bill, semi-annual insurance, dental appointments. I start to worry about making my full Roth IRA payment, and fret about energy. I'm reeling from some poorly timed purchases: pricey motorcycle boots, dresses for interviews, another motor scooter (80 mpg, under $2K), a nifty helmet.

For those who keep track, I am in my quarterly "I am poor and inadequate and have no self-discipline, so I'll throw myself under a hybrid bus" anxiety attack.

Especially I am fretting now that I'm reading High Noon for Natural Gas by Julian Darley, and The Party's Over by Richard Heinberg. I live in the Pacific Northwest, and ten months of the year being here is splendid. This is not one of the splendid months ($147 heating bill).

How do I calculate the projected natural gas costs? I need to estimate them so I can determine if it's worth going back into debt to make energy efficient home improvements, or if I should just use some film coatings and caulk.

There are simple living groups and gurus (Cecile Andrews, Vicki Robin, Steve Rose all live in Seattle), study groups and progressive communities here, including a Peak Oil Awareness group. They're probably all debt-free with no mortgage, or child-free. It sounds hokey to put out a personal ad, but I'm wondering if there are any other parents nearby like me who are thinking "eeps! I better adjust so I can give my kid and my senior self a better life!"
Thursday's Peak Oil Awareness group might be where I meet him or her.

When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
I sometimes fear I'm unwilling to make necessary adjustments to adapt to the reality of diminishing oil and gas reserves -- this year so many countries (Canada and Mexico and others) are to have their peak output of these natural resources, and then trouble will start (like it didn't start in 1973, or 2003).
I have strong psychological attachments to the home, I don't have the time right now really to get gung-ho on gardening, aside from ordering seed catalogues from organic seed suppliers. But I have Steve Solomon's book Gardening When it Counts.

Something else I need to do is rely more on beans and rice to make complete proteins. A few months ago, inspired by the peak oil crisis, I opted to make as much of my diet come from agriculture within 100 miles from me. I eat more fish than chicken and beef these days, but a recent New York Times article by Michael Pollan gave me twinges of regret spending $100 on local organic beef and wild-caught fish this past weekend. Our diet should be mostly plant-based, with maybe a 4 oz. portion of meat, instead of the 5-6 oz. portions. I'd save some dollars.

And I did a bad thing -- I walk close to a mile every day, either to the post office or bus stop or library. Sunday afternoon, jonesing after taking my tot for a 1.3-mile walk with playtime around a man-made lake, I took my motorcycle to the library (0.5 miles away) to photocopy the Sunday crossword. That cost me nearly five cents in gas. I could have walked some more, but seeing other motorcyclists enjoying the sun makes me itch for my scooter key.

It is not without alarm I read online economic data points spiced like projected home valuation depreciation, current negative savings rates, with the comment "Not since the 1930s..." Everyone knows how America fared in the 1930s, right? At least I still have those bottles of sloe gin and liquors. And a fur coat.

I've got to cut down on the frivolous expenses, and I've got to get my family to help. I've got to increase our taxable assets, maybe buy some gold. And chickens. If S. J. Perelman, Dorothy Parker and Alan Campbell, and E. B. White can transition to farmer scribes, I should be able to transition to farmer tech scribe.

I want to inoculate us against the myopia and ignorance of others, and the waste and dystopic zeitgeist around me. I want to seek local versions of the SavingAdvice.com mentors here. I'll even make tea biscuits and offer what I hope to be the last frivolous purchase in a while: specialty tea from TeaCup. Even if it means turning on the natural gas to heat the water.

Protecting the family from screen media is another hard task. I rented "Mr. Show", Seasons 1 and 2 of a hip, long past (1995-1998) sketch comedy HBO show. My kid loves DVDs and VHS, although he sees maybe two hours a week, and we're thinking even that's too much for him: "Let's play Trailer Park Boys, okay? Let's play Mr. Show and I'll be Bob Odenkirk, okay?"

I need to lighten up, but at this point I am racing around the house yelling at people for leaving lights on. I need to break free of this bulimic pattern of scrimp scrimp SPLURGE SPLURGE scrimp scrimp scrimp. I am seriously considering giving up the television, only how would I watch my Chaplin DVDs at those times the world seems especially oppressive and pugnacious?

From Rosemary Wells' book My Kindergarten:

Miss Cribbage asks me to write the number 95 on the board.
I can't do it.
Odysseus writes it instead.
I begin to cry. I have forgotten what every single number looks like.
Diane Duck and Louise sit with me until I stop crying.
"I do not want there to be any more numbers. There are too many," I tell them.
That night at home, Papa agrees with me about too many numbers. He sits at his desk and closes the checkbook and stacks the bills.
"When all the numbers in the world gang up and land on you, punching and crunching," says Papa, "it's called a math crash!"
"How do you fix math crashes?" I ask.
"I run around the house ten times and take a hot bath and they go away," Papa answers.

I have fallen off the wagon, but I am not blaming my Semitic friends, nor am I calling police officers "sugar tits."

Truth be told, I have felt hopeless and alternately slackful achieving financial comfort. Just like I can never be perfect enough to guarantee a spot into Heaven, I can never be comfortable enough to stop worrying. Nobody stops me from my self-sabotage, because the signs are so small: I am too beset by chores of entertaining/training the young boy, doing laundry, keeping up correspondence to pay attention to finances.

I should feel comfortable: I am WAY better off than my parents were, than my brother is. The Assets:Liabilities ratio is high, and for the first time since February 1999 my debt is below $160,000.
Just looked at a July blog post of mine: $163578 in debt! And here I am with $157087. That's a 4% drop in 100 days!

But I have less than $5000 in my savings account, and need $3550 for contributing to my Roth IRA, and will gross less than $5000 by the time my contract ends. I need a new wardrobe.

And we're not saving much money because I've been in the "OMG must see what I can of the state before I can no longer afford it!" mindset or the "OMG must get most of life as possible before some inattentive dimbulb runs me over" mindset.

Being falsely confident in the overly inflated house value, just because our market has been slow to grow (the dot-com bust of 2001-2002 hit my city HARD) will not help. Believe me, I think of purchasing gold, gold mutual funds, cashing out of some mutual funds -- I am still in some GNMA fund which has had the largest growth percentage of the investments in my Roth IRA. However, with each of my diverse mutual funds representing under 10% of my portfolio I am not freaking out.

My supposition is probably: "Gee, my friends aren't freaking out about their $370,000+ mortgage, why should I freak out about having $4500 in my savings account?"

I have a one week's pay bonus at work, already divvied up in my head: 45% IRA, 35% wardrobe, 20% savings.

Also, thank you LuxLiving for caring. It helps me regain my resolve.

My contract ends in a month. I am not ready. I am to have a resume updated and prepped for circulation. I do not believe in myself. The job market is better though, and my job skills have been updated.

My husband and I have been giving our credit card a good workout -- spouse has tix for spending Thanksgiving back home. I approve only because it's been over two years since we've seen them, they are currently too physically incapacitated to fly, spouse's grandmother is frail and in her mid-eighties. I'm not looking forward to having most of my liquid refreshment in-flight choices be: caffeine, alcohol, or high fructose corn syrup carbonated beverages.

Good news: according to a "what income do you need to afford your mortgage" calculator on interest.com, we can apparently manage the mortgage on my husband's income alone.

Also: mortgage is down to $155,997.41. By this time next year, it'll be below $150,000!

My savings strategy is non-existent. Too much "live now, there's no tomorrow." I'd been hoping that interest rates will rise, as Mr. Turk and Mr. Rubino conjectured in a scenario from their book The Coming Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit from It, as the dollar devalues, so I may yield more from taxable savings rather than directly paying off the mortgage, but the Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates down. Who knows, if interest rates go down to 4.00% or lower for 15-year loans, we may refinance.

Six Smartest Ways to Use a Line of Credit

1. Improve value of the home.
2. Pay off high-interest credit cards.
3. Use it for a rainy-day fund.
4. Buy a second home.
5. Put kid through college.
6. Start a business.

Not liking #4 - #6: obviously these are in descending order of smartness. Sir John Templeton, looking at Boston and California's house prices, advised picking them up at a tenth of their 2004 list values. Only a volcano/earthquake combination, or a biochemical attack would bring our house values down 90%.

Ah, the spouse has revealed to me he reads this. Expect sanitized Erma Bombeckisms now. Soon my son will be reading these too.

Net worth statement is up 1% from last month. Retirement accounts balance are tantalizingly $3000 lower than the mortgage loan balance. The "Car loans" entry is clear. The spike in retirement account balances is almost solely responsible for the increase.

The gotchas: we'll likelily be billed for my kid's social communication therapy (Bleah) because insurance won't cover it. It's not a rehabilitation treatment from a difficult birth and complicated pregnancy: I suspect what he has is genetic.

A wee gotcha: we're shoppin' at BOEING SURPLUS. Tomorrow is the last day for specials on: credenzas, computer tables, chairs with wheels and office tables. Plus a 20% discount for Boeing employees. Using my FlexCar membership to "rent" a pickup truck. Time to remeasure the office's area space.

Next saving trick: yet another computer for the spouse to work on his MCSE. Estimating $850 for that.

Stock bonus still hasn't come. Dammit, and I need new clothes too -- new trenchcoat or raincoat, new blouses, new pants, new tights, earrings...

Link of the Day: From SmartMoney.com, The best time to buy

I sometimes feel I miss out on coupon fun. Our family doesn't go for much processed food nor fast food anymore. We run to supermarkets for quickie "oh I didn't realize we ran out of..." trips. We don't see coupons for stuff we like -- garlic bread, flour, whipping cream, fresh herbs. I wish I had some evidence and proof that none of the chemicals, additives, preservatives and flavourings in the processed food contributed to diabetes or cancer, and were equally as healthful as the fresh stuff we buy. Then I'd be couponing too.

My starbucks coffee is free so I don't pay attention to the tsktskers who go on about the "latte factor." I have one or two espresso drinks a week, but I also get access to NYT crosswords, so there's some subsidy.

I am reading the simple life -- thoughts on simplicity, frugality, and living well. It's edited by Larry Roth, the same man who wrote the Political Frugality book. Check out this paragraph.

While I was happy I had gotten my start twenty years earlier, I began calculating the price increases I had absorbed. My salary had increased five times, but my housing costs had increased more than eleven times, and a new car was six times what I paid for one in 1971. It occurred to me that Americans could not continue to survive their expenses outrunning their means for much longer.

I totally relate to this. We are not so careful about costs of eating out -- I splurged on saltimbocca, because it'd been at least six months since I had veal -- but I don't colour my hair as much as I used to, we don't have cable, we don't have mobile phones, we don't have two cars. Our stylist has figured out that my spouse has been "cheating on him" going for the $10 haircuts.

1. Unexpected ouch: forgot that the deposit for the new preschool was $910, not $100 that I paid 6/22. Put down $205 on 9/1, and paid the $910 that was due.
It'll still be cheaper than the other daycare, but by $50 overall thanks to the steep deposit.

2. I e-mailed someone who has a Post Carbon online group, he said the #1 thing I should do to prepare for peak oil is get out of debt. Ugh. Is borrowing for solar panels and big rain cisterns and filtration systems acceptable? If I could with certainty project the rising utility costs at 13% year over year I would say borrowing is certainly worthwhile. If one could reap a Return on Investment within five years for home improvements, borrowing at a competitive interest rate could be beneficial.

3. I was a bad girl and researched some DRiPs. I found some fairly recent directories in the Business Reference section of a Regional Library, so that pleased me. Some I may consider further research on for the family:
JNJ, COF, HDI, BUD, WTR, TGT, MDT, BNI, UNP, CHD, HCN.

4. I decluttered my papers: shoving the business/record types in one folder, and the recipes in another. Then I commenced with some merry shredding.

5. I am freaked/wistful that my son will attend Kindergarten next year. Where does the time go? I hope he fares well in his new environment.

I found a great newsletter in my local library: Bottom Line Secrets, featuring tips from experts -- the editorial board includes Sheldon Jacobs, Dean Ornish, Alexandra Armstrong, and other names I recognize -- on health, wealth, safety, pretty much anything you need to make your life better. I've already learned about a socially progressive mutual fund CRAIX, tax liens as a form of investment, and exchange traded funds. Here's the Website.

It's a skinny newsletter but it's 100% subscriber-financed. No advertising!

My PC is futzed -- hubby suspects it's the toggle switch. I had accepted some updates, and rather than restart the machine I thought I'd save electricity and shut it down. I'll be saving even more electricity.

I made a budget for the month. I'm in a quandary about some extra cash we'll be receiving -- not enough to pay off the scooter, sadly, but enough to pay half of it.

I also found a nifty loan payoff calculator at office.microsoft.com! It's an Excel spreadsheet, and I can use either incremental payments or sudden extra payments in a column to play with various payoff scenarios. Go to office.microsoft.com and search for "loan payoff Excel." The template will be in the result set.

Scooter: $5183.22
Mortgage:$158002.28
Credit Card:$417.81

I borrowed the Laurence Kotlikoff and Scott Burns Coming Generational Storm book, an oldie book by Shel Horowitz about how to Penny Pinch and yet live royally, and Jeff Schnepper's Tax Guide for 2006. I wish I could tap into my intuition as far as investment goes, but I really need to decently research my options first. I'm thinking about an ETF for water, and a mutual fund that invests in companies offering palliatives and solutions for energy, global warming, and water ills.

So in a moment of weakness I agreed to a two-year cellular phone contract with a special offer. Free phone, $30.00/month. I don't like cell phones at all, but maybe it's their users I disapprove of:

"HI! I'M WALKING DOWN THE STREET SOUNDING SCHIZOPHRENIC, LIKE I TALK TO MYSELF!"

"I HAVE TO SHOUT OUT MY SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER AND TELL YOU ABOUT MY SISTER'S GAMBLING PROBLEM AND YEAST INFECTION IN FRONT OF PEOPLE ON A CROWDED BUS!"

"I AM TOO CHEAP FOR A HANDSFREE OPTION SO I WILL CRADLE MY PHONE WITH ONE HAND AND HOLD MY CIGARETTE WITH ANOTHER WHILE I KNOCK DOWN A MOTORCYCLIST AS I CLUMSILY MAKE TOO WIDE A TURN IN A VEHICLE TOO LARGE FOR ME TO COMPETENTLY CONTROL!"

"I'M HAVING A FATHER'S DAY DINNER OUT WITH MY FAMILY -- LET ME INTERRUPT THE FESTIVITIES TO FIELD THIS VERY IMPORTANT BUSINESS CALL."

I'm pretty sure I can use a cellphone without turning into one of those idjits... er, fine upstanding citizens.

But it's not going to save me any money! One guy at the motorcycle service shop sneered at me because I couldn't name a number where I'd be reached during the day -- I wanted to go shopping and conduct errands and taking the bus hither and thither would be too long. Two middle-aged men already mock me for not having a phone. I figure now that I have my own wheels I should have a phone so I can call someone in case of emergency. But then I'd need a pocket phone book in my purse too. Or recruiters can talk to me when I'm running errands and I have a better shot of getting jobs.

I have a trial period of thirty days. I get thirty whole minutes in those thirty days. I dunno... Send it back?

My challenge for July: (feel free to participate here)
Find thirty-one ways to cut $30.00 of expenditures.

Entertainment expenses have gone up: a DVD or video at our rental place of choice is now $4.00, but we can have it for a week. Wednesdays are two-for-one days though.

Fun link! Grandfather Economic Report

This is a collection of easy-to-understand picture-reports to increase awareness of certain threats to the economic future & freedom of families and their children, compared to the past - - on family income, debt, savings, government spending, education quality, social security, regulations, taxes, inflation, energy, foreign trade and exchange, voter turnout, trust, national security, and health care.

Sixty-two percent of Americans report that they are saving and/or investing. However, more than 40 percent of all Americans save less than five percent of their annual household income. Sixteen percent save between 5 and 10 percent. Only nine percent save more than 20 percent of their annual income. - Jean Sherman Chatzky or is it Jean Chatzky Sherman?

There are a host of other goal-oriented bloggers who've seen fit to make their debt paydowns public, and I commend each one of them. I do my level best to keep up with as many as I can. Because I've been where they are. By making their debts, their goals, and their actions public, they've turned vague "ought-tos" into unmistakable, concrete targets. They're asking for an audience. They're asking for accountability. This goes against pretty much everything our society preaches regarding money and debt. And by gosh, it takes bigtime courage.
Making Your Debt Known

I owe $162610.85. There. I'm out with my debt. It would make me feel better if other Seattle families would admit to me they're feeling pinched, but they're not. I meet with single people once a month to talk about our debt and the progress and setbacks we've had. Maybe the Seattle families manage money better than I do.

How much am I paying off each month? $900 in principal, $700 in interest.

I think the Seattle families could help each other. Costco coshopping. Progressive dinners. Batch cooking. Bartering. It's outside my comfort zone to ask people if they're interested in these things, but maybe I should be brave, huh? Maybe not assume everyone has the stock option fairy or the trust fund god giving them six-digit wealth.

Maybe I'll do a bad thing and use the 3.99% convenience cheques to extend my low interest loan on the scooter -- to be paid off by April 2007. And put my money where the return will be greater -- like CDs or bonds or Fording Coal or gold.

Brother giving me $600.00 for his expenses (shopping, research). Yay.

10 Steps out of Credit Card Debt

Ooh, a clearly unreachable goal-- own the house outright by ...
SUMMARY MESSAGE
Families should not wait for government bureaucrats & politicians to 'save them' or 'set it right again' - they must take their own individual responsibility to develop actions to reduce their own consumption and invest more of their own productive time in high-quality education and savings, while maximizing their own assets free & clear of any debt. In other words, families must face the reality of certain national trends - - or suffer consequences.

Why? The legislators you elect know nothing but to drive up debt. Don't leave your Cadillac to be handled by a person who's worked only at demolition derbies.

I made an appointment for a tour of the closest licensed child care provider to us. Not only is it marginally cheaper (8-9%) than where we've got the lad now, they provide lunches. Also, being three blocks away from the center makes it very easy for either one of us to go fetch the boy.

And, I have to say, the projected 4% increase in daycare is better than the 8-12% increase we've come to expect from where we put the boy now. I hope his IQ test comes back as average (90-110) because if it comes back as gifted (120+), and they're treating him like there's something wrong with him, then I'm pulling him out.

PEMCO wants my auto insurance business. I'll see if they'll welcome the motorcycle. I could use a reduction in insurance costs. They threw in a 30 minute long distance card too. Groovy!

Spent money on lunch. I am bad. Soup, roll, salad and brownie. $4.68

Spent money on gas: $9.06. That should last me one week.

Still investigating long distance service.
Want it as cheap as possible.

HELLO - happywave

I am a thirty-something wife and mother, and neurotic homeowner in Seattle, Washington. Funny that some of the most revered simple living and frugal people live in a city with the country's highest cost of living! Delighted to be in their company, and in yours!

159,434.41 owing on mortgage
5,616.42 owing on vehicle
113.00 owing on credit card

Income: $5200 net
Outgo: $4660 net

I am not the most frugal of people, and I'm hypocritical in some areas -- I like to motor on my scoot around the land, and I've been known to eat meat on occasion. I don't subscribe to cable television but I do pay $$ for film festivals and DVD/video rentals. I try to drink green tea but sometimes when it's cold and wet foamy hot coffee calls to me like a nursing blanket.

Current things:
Interested in saving at least a dollar a day. Mortgage costs are up $33.41 a month.

Interested in cutting monthly outgo to $4194 ON AVERAGE.


Favourite links:
www.mymoney.gov
www.goodadvicepress.com/pci.htm
www.hillbillyhousewife.com

Favourite money commentators:
Scott Burns
Richard Jenkins
Michelle Singletary

Favourite frugality gurus:
Janet Luhrs
Nancy Castleman
Deborah Taylor-Hough
Vicki Robin

What I'll be using this space for:
listing money saving tips I like
posting URLs to money saving websites I like
posting my financial goals

Paid $20.15 yesterday for gas, cappuccino, lunch

Dude paid $8.00 for parking and for coffee club monthly dues

Paid $29.14 for garlic, B-100 vitamins, Emergen-C, Vitamin D milk, fruit leather.
Emergen-C was happily $4.96 cheaper than the last box I bought.

$57.29